r/marvelstudios • u/pje1128 Kilgrave • 2d ago

Article Wilson Fisk/Kingpin Cannot Appear in Movies, Only TV Series, Daredevil’s Vincent D’Onofrio Reveals

https://tvline.com/news/wilson-fisk-kingpin-no-movies-only-tv-vincent-donofrio-1235428964/

I don't think this was public knowledge before, but I suppose it makes sense since Kingpin is as much a Spider-Man villain as he is Daredevil. I assume Sony owns his film rights, but Marvel is still able to use him on TV, so maybe they could get him in a Spider-Man movie at least? D'Onofrio doesn't even seem confident about that though, so who knows.

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u/sanddragon939 2d ago

I don't understand how Kingpin can't appear in a Disney movie when he could appear in a Fox movie.

Also, to my knowledge, Kingpin has already appeared in non-Daredevil projects so that's not an issue. If Marvel co-owns the character he can appear in anything. Its not like Scarlet Witch was restricted only to Avengers projects.

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u/Divewinds 2d ago

I think it's more about it being a shared universe. The Kingpin in the Fox movies would be legally distinct than any Kingpin that Sony theoretically implemented in a Spider-Man film. Now that Spiderman films are part of the MCU and Kingpin exists in the MCU already,

If Kingpin exists in Spiderman: Brand New Day, is it under Marvel's half of the rights? Or is it under Sony's rights? If it's under Sony's then that means it's arguably legally distinct and allows Sony to have D'Onofrio in other non-MCU projects (like how Vulture was able to appear in Morbius despite being in a different universe because Sony owned the rights to Vulture and Keaton's portrayal).

The agreement which allows Spiderman to appear in the MCU is separate from the 2011 negotiations which reasserted the rights. Portrayals being legally distinct were why Quicksilver could appear in X-Men and the MCU, although that has since changed with Disney buying the relevant parts of Fox.

All of this is not to say that Kingpin can't appear in films, especially Spider-Man films, but that they would likely need to negotiate rights similarly to how they did for Spider-Man. Given the collapse of the SSU, that probably wouldn't be too difficult.

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u/sanddragon939 2d ago

Okay, couple of things that need to be broken down here I guess.

First off, D'Onofrio said that Kingpin can't appear in any film. He wasn't just talking about appearing in Spider-Man films. He apparently can't even appear in a solo Kingpin film. I don't see why that's the case - why Marvel can't just assert their half of the rights to have Kingpin appear on-screen (the same way Fox did back in 2003)? I can understand things getting complicated when it comes to Kingpin in a Spider-Man film, but why should they be complicated when it comes to Kingpin in a solo film, or a Daredevil film, or hell, an Avengers film?

Marvel owns the rights to Kingpin along with Sony. They own the rights to Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal of Kingpin, as depicted in Daredevil, Born Again, and other D+ shows. Why can't they put him on the silver screen when Fox, who once had the same rights they do, did?

If there was some subsequent deal which added restrictions to Disney's usage of the character...well, I just don't get why Disney would agree to such restrictions since Fox never had them.

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u/Divewinds 2d ago

The contract between Sony and Marvel with regards to rights of all Spiderman related properties were renegotiated in 2011 so there may be slightly different arrangements compared to 2003. Fox were licensing the rights off Marvel, so that puts them in a different position to Disney/Marvel (potential for conflicts of interest etc.). They may have agreed to additional restrictions to get additional use for something else that seemed more relevant to their interests at the time - especially as it seemed unlikely at the time that Spiderman would appear in the MCU.

Additionally, it's quite possible that D'Onofrio doesn't fully know the situation or that the conversations he's been a part of are primarily with regards to Spiderman, as there aren't really any other films on the agenda currently that Kingpin would be particularly suited in (he has connections with Thunderbolts, but it doesn't appear the use of Contessa de Fontaine is a substitute for Fisk).

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u/eagc7 7h ago

Yeah i agree with that last point, almost all the time anyone asks about Kingpin showing up in an MCU movie, its always in relation to Spider-Man